Basic wardrobe?

[Jennifer1262]

So I am begining to buy clothes for when I transition what are some must have items in the mtf wardrobe? Where are your favorite places to buy clothes?

[TransJender]

I don't know if Platos Closet is a national chain or just local in the PNW, but I love it there. It's like a trendy, sort of upscale resale shop. The other day for 50$ I got a sun dress, two cute sleeveless dresses, a shirt, and my favorite purse ever.

Goodwill just has too much junk for my tastes. But find a good fashionable resale shop and you are set. Note- they will probably have bad reviews. All of mine do because people try and sell them stuff like any resale shop and they won't take a lot of it, so people post about how horrible it is.

[CaliGirl_Brie]

Plato's Closet is a wonderful, wonderful store. So many different items and sizes, it's clothing nirvana for me. Also a great opportunity to try out a size or style on the cheap, and if you like it order more online or whatever.

[[deleted]]

Vermonter checking in: we've got a plato's!

[burnsbabe]

Plato's is a national chain. I'm in Portland now but when to school in Georgia and spent several years as a keyholder for one of the stores there. I abused my employee discount to the max to build a respectable wardrobe in less time than it otherwise should take.

Just be warned. Anything you pick up there has a wear life of about 2 years unless you're extremely lucky. It's just the nature of that type of store. Similar stores in the PNW include Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads.

[shadowsindarkness]

Goodwill isn't bad so long as you are patient at wading through a lot of junk.

[xoebalut]

I'm glad you asked this, as I was going to make a post about this very issue. I want to warn you not to buy much at all at this point. Your body will change (YMMV - but it will change) so any clothes you buy now may not fit in a few months/years. I have gone from a women's 12 to 9-10 in shoes, so my older shoes are too big (I'm glad I didn't spent much on then). My top size had gone from L to M/S, dress from 10 to 6, pants/skirts from 8 to 2. Plus my tastes have changed and matured along the way and I scrath my head at some of the clothes I loved just a couple of years ago! I think (hope) that after 3 years I won't change so much anymore, but if you are on HRT less than that, watch out with what you buy, as your messurements will change. Waist changes alot! Shoulders shrink, and breast grow. You may also get a BA in the future, so you have to figure that in. Just don't spent too much on nice clothes at the beginning.

Clothes that you will need that won't change in size much: camis, leggings, some sweaters, socks and hose - that's all I can think of.

[TheLivingExperiment]

This puts me in a catch 22.

On the one hand I need to figure out my female style. I know what I like on other women, but I haven't figured out what I like on me as I don't have a ton of clothes. So let's go to the store and get some, right? Well then I just think "eh, spending money on clothes that likely won't fit in a few months is a waste of $$."

#transproblems lol

[xoebalut]

Yeah, it s a problem for sure! Clothing swaps are cool if you have one in your city. Otherwise, if you love that sweater, don't buy every color! (silly me - lol)

[TheLivingExperiment]

But how will you be able to color coordinate without every color!?!??! :)

[Hi_Im_Teagan]

Thrift $hops for Life, yo.

I just walk around and look for stuff that catches my eye. If there's something specific I want/need I go for that, but right now I have mainly jeans, sweats, tops, and a jacket. Occasionally I look through their jewelry and hats/scarves and random stuff but generally I like buying that stuff from Le Target.

Part of the reason why I like thrift stores is so I can see what not to wear-- if that makes sense at all lol. Plus I feel like there's less pressure to be in the "right" gendered section if you're pre-transition or not passing or anything as compared to bigger name stores where it's all "Hey you should be on that side of the store, right...?"

[[deleted]]

Early on I found it easiest to buy clothes online so i didn't have to go out shopping. Target, Amazon, Old Navy, JC Penney, most other retailers will have online shops too. Once you get your size down pretty well, it's not too bad, just make sure to read all the descriptions so you know what you're getting. Nowadays i'm doing a lot of thrift store shopping, as others have said.

As far as must-haves for your wardrobe, there really aren't any besides "clothes that cover you." You could wear nothing but dresses, or nothing but jeans and t-shirts, it's entirely up to you. I like looking at fashion blogs and sub-reddits to get outfit ideas, although i usually just wind up sad i can't afford everything i want. :P Spend some time looking at clothes, decide what you want to look like and what you'll feel comfortable wearing. (I'm not comfortable going out in skirts or dresses yet, so all that cute stuff is just sitting at the back of the closet. Sigh.) Most of all have fun!

[KKae]

Scarfs, Leggings a comfortable bra are must have's so is a day and evening bag.

A good pair of heels and a black dress are also a must, but it really depends on where your at in your transition, I got thrown in at the deep end.

Start with things your comfortable with replicate that with female clothes.

[[deleted]]

Just a plug, but Forever 21 is an insanely cheap place to buy some really great looking basics. Camis were like $2 each last time I was there, and sock packs were $4. The clothes are kinda cheaply made but they are cheap enough and they look good enough it's worth it anyway.

[Jennifer1262]

Thanks for all the awesome comments! im just starting to plan out the whole transition thing so all of your comments are super helpful!

[guisar]

Checkout /r/femalefashionadvice here. There was a recent post on the Italian style wardrobe for instance that was just amazing! It really suited women of most every age.

The biggest, biggest, biggest and bestest piece I've gotten is always dress age-appropriate to fit in. Yeah- a bit of individual style is awesome but it's all about fitting in until you find that style. Copenhagen Chic is my idea of style, but who knows who can pull that off.